Gestalt

I've been familar with Gestalt pshcology sicne I was little, most of us have. I have always had an interest in images playing with our minds. The Gestalt theory explains that our brian has the ability to put lines and curves into forms with the help of our senses. There are four key principles in this theory. The first is emergence. This is when a bunch of lines, dots, blobs, etc. create an image that takes a minute to come together. You first see the image as a whole and then the individual parts reviel themselves. Second would be reification. This plays with contour lines that aren't really there or invisable. Usually they are created by other objects. Third we have multistability. Multistability includes an object that can be viewed as different images and has the ability to jump from image to image.

For example to make an image stable we would color the bottom left square red to indicate that it is the front. Then you could no longer jump from image to image. Last is invariance where a single shape can be rotated, morphed, scaled, or translated but still be recognized as the same shape.

Frustration With a New 2-D World

Yesterday Babcock gave us our assiagnment, and at first I didn't think anything of it. I sort of viewed it as another exercise. but as he continued talking throughout class I realized I was getting way ahead of myself. Being an Interior Design major I like to keep my eye on the end product. I like to make sure everything flows together, and in designing 3-D spaces that comes very easy to me. As soon as Babcock said just draw one word at a time and then maybe later things will work together I started struggling. I never realized how different it is to design something on a flat surface that has no depth or percpectiveto it. That night my roommates and I brianstormed words that fit with my subject. We got around 20 words per subject and I finsihed drawing for half of them. It still presents itself as a challenge for me, but maybe if I just take a deep breath and really hold myself from leaping towards what the end will look like then I might come up with something I really enjoy.

Semiotics Lecture

Semiotics, in the way I understand it, is basically understanding a symbol or a sign and what it is trying to communicate to the viewer. In Friday's lecture alot of terms and new vocabulary was thrown around but throughout the semester as they are used more, I believe I'll be able to really get a grip on it all. Concerning the readings, the examples helped alot. I understand that an icon is very realistic and as we simplize that photographic image we move closer to a sign. Seeing the definitions first don't really clear much up for me, but once I see more examples and try to come up with a few myself then hopefully I'll understand semiotics as a whole.

This is an icon of a winding road.

This is a sign of a winding road.

We read both pictures as a winding road but the purpose of the second picture is to read it quickly and clearly. If the first picture was used as the original road sign to communicate that the next few miles or so are curvy, its not efficient enough for the driver, and most likly would cause a wreck anyway. To use more new language learned during class, this picure denotes a curvy arrow, but it conotes a winding road.

My Courses

I am a junior in progress of earning a B.F.A. in interior design.

I have taken all of my general art courses except for sculpture. I plan to take sculpture next semester. I also have a few courses for interior design left and some general education. I would like to do an internship next summer. So here's an example of what my last two years at UCM will look like...

Spring 2010
Sculpture I
Corporate and Institutional Design
20th Century Art and Architecture
General Education (6 Hours)

Fall 2010
Studio Seminar
Artists in Contemporary Society
Major Elective
General Education (3 hours)

Spring 2011
Professional Practice
General Education (9 hours)

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